Must-Have Recordings

One of the pleasures in life in the post-CD era is reassessing your record collection. The enormous volume of back-catalog recordings being released and compilations being assembled on disc means that music fans can more easily explore new types of
music.

To help in that exploration, we've assembled a list of recordings you should consider. There have been literally millions of musical performances recorded since the advent of audio tape, and thousands are worthy of your attention. Our list is meant
to suggest genres, time periods and artists that should be represented in your CD collection. The list is historical; we assume you're keeping up with current artists (and you've already read our survey of this year's significant recordings). Many of the artists
have had their work compiled into greatest hits collections that you may want to purchase. We've avoided them (except when a collection is the most commonly available or desirable form) in order to suggest interesting periods in the artists' development.